SAN FRANCISCO — Jan. 24, 2013 — Organizers have
revealed the finalists for the 13
th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, the leading
peer-based video game event celebrating the industry's top games
and developers. Winners in all categories will be honored at the
Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony, taking place on Wednesday,
March 27th at 6:30 pm at the Moscone Convention Center during the
2013 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco.

Independent titles are heavily represented across multiple
categories this year, with games from that segment of the industry
being nominated alongside some of the year’s biggest
mainstream releases. Overall, Thatgamecompany’s
visually-and-aurally stunning emotional adventure
Journey leads with nods in six categories: Best Design,
Best Downloadable Game, Best Audio, Best Visual, Innovation and
Game of the Year. Bethesda Softworks’ and Arkane
Studios’ historical revenge epic
Dishonored is recognized in four categories, Best
Narrative, Best Visual, Best Design and Game of the Year.

Another leading nominee is Telltale Games’
The Walking Dead, a post-apocalyptic adventure title based
on Robert Kirkman’s comic book series of the same name,
honored in three categories for this year’s awards: Best
Downloadable Game, Best Narrative and Game of the Year. Rounding
out the Game of the Year finalists are BioWare and Electronic
Arts’ action role-playing game
Mass Effect 3, also nominated in the Best Narrative
category and Firaxis Games’ and 2K Games’ tactical
role-playing strategy title
X-COM: Enemy Unknown, also recognized in Best Design.

The 2013 Game Developers Choice Awards are open to any video
game that was initially released and made publicly available to
consumers during the 2012 calendar year, irrespective of platform
or delivery medium. Industry professionals participate in open
nominations for the selection of this year's finalists. Winners
will be selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific
International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is an
invitation-only organization comprised of leading game creators
from all parts of the industry.

The complete list of nominees for the 13
th annual Game Developers Choice Awards is as
follows:

Best Audio

Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games/Devolver Digital)

Sound Shapes (Queasy Games/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Assassin's Creed III (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Halo 4 (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios)

Best Debut

Humble Hearts (Dust: An Elysian Tail)

Polytron Corporation (Fez)

Giant Sparrow (The Unfinished Swan)

Subset Games (FTL: Faster Than Light)

Fireproof Games (The Room )

Best Game Design

Dishonored (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)

Mark Of The Ninja (Klei Entertainment/Microsoft Studios)

Spelunky (Derek Yu/Andy Hull)

Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)

XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Firaxis Games/2K Games)

Best Downloadable Game

The Walking Dead (Telltale Games)

Spelunky (Derek Yu/Andy Hull)

Trials: Evolution (RedLynx/Microsoft Studios)

Mark Of The Ninja (Klei Entertainment/Microsoft Studios)

Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Best Technology

Far Cry 3 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

PlanetSide 2 (Sony Online Entertainment)

Halo 4 (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios)

Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Treyarch/Activision)

Assassin's Creed III (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

Gravity Rush (SCE Japan Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Hero Academy (Robot Entertainment)

Sound Shapes (Queasy Games/Sony Computer Entertainment)

The Room (Fireproof Games)

Kid Icarus: Uprising (Sora/Nintendo)

Best Narrative

Spec Ops: The Line (Yager Entertainment/2K Games)

Mass Effect 3 (BioWare/Electronic Arts)

Dishonored (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)

The Walking Dead (Telltale Games)

Virtue's Last Reward (Chunsoft/Aksys Games)

Best Visual Arts

Borderlands 2 (Gearbox Software/2K Games)

Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Far Cry 3 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Dishonored (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)

Halo 4 (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios)

Innovation

Mark of the Ninja (Klei Entertainment/Microsoft Studios)

Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)

FTL: Faster Than Light (Subset Games)

The Unfinished Swan (Giant Sparrow/Sony Computer
Entertainment)

ZombiU (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)

Game of the Year

Dishonored (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)

The Walking Dead (Telltale Games)

Mass Effect 3 (BioWare/Electronic Arts)

XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Firaxis Games/2K Games)

Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)

The Game Developers Choice Awards also recognizes three Special
Award categories: the Pioneer, Ambassador and Lifetime Achievement
awards, which will be announced in the near-future. In addition,
the first-ever Audience Award for the Choice Awards – open to
all finalists for this year – will open for online voting in
mid-February.

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